Movies
Blade
(New Line Cinema). This hip urban vampire tale is either
admirably true to its Marvel Comics origins or boring and brooding, depending
on who reviews it. Naysayers: "[S]trictly Batman revisited" (Dave Kehr,
New York Daily News ). Advocates: "[P]ure visceral imagery" (Roger Ebert,
the Chicago Sun-Times ). The eponymous hero is a tortured half-vampire
(Wesley Snipes) on a classic comic book mission to rid the world of his more
murderous brethren. The film is filled with Hong Kong-style fighting, blood,
and special effects and is said to radiate a grim beauty. But neither script
nor plot measures up: "The noir atmosphere doesn't quite smother the dialogue's
cheesy smell" (Gene Seymour, Los Angeles Times ). (Visit the official
site.)
Why
Do Fools Fall in Love
(Warner Bros.). Critics call Gregory
( Selena ) Nava's latest pop-star biopic of doo-wopster Frankie Lymon a
sort of "comic Rashomon of rock-and-roll" (Lawrence Van Gelder, the
New York Times ). Lymon, who became a star at 13 and died of a drug
overdose at 25, married three women without divorcing any of them; only after
his death did the three find out about one another. Critics say the film never
really explains Lymon's motives. Despite some nice performances from the wives
(Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox, and Lela Rochon), he remains "a cipher." (Check
out Lymon's headstone.)
54
(Miramax Films). The second Studio 54/disco movie of the
summer is pronounced "tacky, tiny and about as seductively nostalgic as those
videotapes of your cousin's wedding" (Kehr, New York Daily News ). The
film's weaknesses: 1) a moralizing story line--"a cleaned-up version of The
Rake's Progress " (Jay Carr, the Boston Globe ); 2) poor acting from
leads Ryan Phillippe and Neve Campbell; 3) cramped sets that fail to convey
Studio 54's extravagance and debauchery. The highlight of the film: Mike Myers'
performance as creepy club owner Steve Rubell. Otherwise, "[d]ecadence has
rarely looked so pathetic, lethargic and dispiriting" (Kenneth Turan, Los
Angeles Times ). (Watch the trailer.)
Book
The
Farming of Bones
, by Edwidge Danticat (Soho Press). At 29, Danticat has
been named one of Granta 's 20 best young novelists, had a short story
collection ( Krik? Krak! ) nominated for the National Book Award, and had
her first novel ( Breath, Eyes, Memory ) picked for Oprah's book club.
Early reviews of Danticat's latest novel suggest that, miraculously, she
doesn't disappoint. "It's a testament to her talent that the novel, while
almost unbearably sad, is still a joy to read" (Sarah Van Boven,
Newsweek ). The "powerful, haunting" tale (Christopher John Farley,
Time ) recounts the life of a young Haitian woman, Amabelle Désir, who
lives through a 1937 massacre of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic.
(Buy this book on Amazon.)
Music
The
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
, by Lauryn Hill (Ruffhouse/Columbia). The
former member of the Grammy-winning hip-hop trio the Fugees draws raves for her
first solo album. Popular points of comparison: Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder,
and Bob Marley. Three things Hill earns praise for: 1) eschewing the heavy
production and packaging common in R&B and hip-hop; 2) writing and
producing the album herself; 3) a high quotient of live instrumentation and
improvisation. The album is "shockingly raw for mainstream pop, with the
first-take immediacy of much great reggae" (Eric Weisbard, Spin ).
Rolling Stone and USA Today each give it four stars. The New
York Times ' Ann Powers calls it "music that touches the essence of soul."
(Listen to a sample of the album.)
Updates
A
Saving Private Ryan backlash begins. In the New York Review of
Books , Louis Menand declares that "[t]here is nothing unconventional about
this story. It is possibly the most tried and true dramatic plot known to man."
The New York Times ' Vincent Canby says Spielberg has "revived a type of
patriotic war movie you might think went out of fashion" after the glut of
Vietnam War-horror flicks of the '80s. ... In the New York Times Book
Review , Daphne Merkin calls Allegra Goodman's Kaaterskill Falls "a
throwback to a time before fiction turned graphic and interior and hot to the
touch." Merkin also marvels at Goodman's "almost 19 th -century
ability to create a sense of linkage, of one existence impinging on the
next."
Recent
"Summary Judgment" columns
Aug.
26:
Movie--
Dance With
Me ;
Movie -- Your
Friends & Neighbors ;
Movie -- Unmade
Beds ;
Television -- The
Rat Pack (HBO);
Book -- The First
Eagle , by Tony Hillerman;
Book -- Summer of
Deliverance: A Memoir of Father and Son , by Christopher Dickey;
Book -- Kaaterskill Falls , by Allegra Goodman.
Aug.
19:
Movie--
The
Avengers ;
Movie--
Return to
Paradise ;
Movie--
The Slums
of Beverly Hills ;
Music--
Whitechocolatespaceegg , by Liz Phair;
Book--
The Father
of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public Relations , by Larry
Tye;
Book--
Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the
Hamptons , by Steven S. Gaines.
Aug.
12:
Movie--
Snake
Eyes ;
Movie--
Halloween:
H20 ;
Movie -- How Stella
Got Her Groove Back ;
Book -- Rainbow
Six , by Tom Clancy;
Television --J erry
Seinfeld: I'm Telling You for the Last Time--Live on Broadway (HBO);
Television -- The Upright Citizens Brigade (Comedy Central).
Aug.
5:
Art --"The Art of the
Motorcycle";
Television -- Lolita (Showtime);
Television -- Maximum Bob (ABC);
Movies -- Ever
After: A Cinderella Story ;
Movies -- The
Negotiator ;
Book -- Burn
Rate , by Michael Wolff;
Death --Jerome
Robins.
--Eliza
Truitt
